WITHIN THE WALLS
T
The bachurim of Mesivta Chaim Shlomo and Beis Medrash Heichal Dovid are fortunate to
learn under a cadre of genuine and distinguished talmidei chachamim, each of whom — wheth-
er he is a sho’el umaishiv, a maggid shiur, a menahel or a rosh yeshiva — is possesses a range of
ineffable qualities enabling him to transmit the Torah and mesorah to a new generation.
Yet when the Yeshiva is privileged to welcome visiting senior gedolim from Eretz Yisrael,
the bachurim become enthusiastic, thirstily absorbing every word and interaction of the au-
gust guests. This occurred most recently with the separate visits of Hagaon Rav Moshe Hillel
Hirsch and Hagaon Rav Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi, shlita.
WHY IS THAT SO?
Klal Yisrael lives by the pasuk Ask your father and he will relate it to you; your elders
and they will tell you. (Devarim 32:7), Unlike the wider society, we are not fixated on bright
and shiny new objects — whether they be of the material or ideological sort. We look to the
ancient and timeless Torah for our learning, our values, and our lifeblood. We are cognizant
of the fact that we are only the latest link in a glorious, golden chain of mesorah that began
3,300 years ago at Har Sinai.
So when an opportunity presents for young bachurim to bask in the glow and absorb the
wisdom of an exemplar of that mesorah, someone who is a few generations closer to Sinai
than the rest of us, it is quite understandable that they would be excited by the prospect and
enriched by the experience.
Because every gadol b’Yisrael embodies not only his own greatness and wisdom but three
millennia of Jewish history.
AND THE MAJESTY.
The Jewish nation in its ideal state was always governed by a monarchy, and it will be
again. In the absence of kings in the traditional sense, Klal Yisrael is nevertheless led today by
royalty of a different sort: gedolei Torah. As the Torah declares, on her own behalf: Through
me, kings will reign (Mishlei 8:15).
A Torah Jew recognizes that his entire life is to be governed by the Torah—not only
with regard to the daily halachos of the Shulchan Aruch, , but in his weltanschauung and the
myriad choices that he is faced with in his personal life as well. The Torah covers everything.
To know what the Torah mandates, whether in the life of the individual or the life of the
nation, takes a rare and rarified personage, one whose entire life is suffused with Torah and
whose entire outlook is consequently defined by da’as Torah, the Torah view of things.
Our two illustrious guests are such people. Talmidei chachamim, roshei yeshiva, gedo-
lim—and leaders of our people. It is no wonder that in Eretz Yisrael they are sought after and
revered beyond the confines of their own yeshivos, giving counsel to thousands of individuals
and guiding the tzibbur as members of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah.
It is therefore no wonder that the bachurim took such pleasure in welcoming them and
absorbing their drashos and personal examples.
The following shmuessin were adapted for print by Rav Shimon Finkelman.
BEDARCHEI HATORAH
WINTER 5780/2020
33